1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a protector for a wire harness and a method for attaching the protector to the wire harness, and more particularly relates to the protector in which a length of a branch line drawn out of the protector mounted on the wire harness is set to be a length required for a continuity test and an additional length of the branch line can be accommodated in the protector after finishing the continuity test.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a wire harness is arranged in a motor vehicle in order to electrically connect various kinds of electrical equipments installed in a vehicle body of the motor vehicle. A protector made of a resin material is often mounted on the wire harness in order to protect the wire harness and to restrain an arranging direction of the wire harness. The wire harness branches branch lines from a main line in accordance with various kinds of connections in design. Some protectors are mounted on a main line with branch lines.
Lengths of the branch lines and main line are set to be slightly greater than lengths required for arranging the wire harness in the motor vehicle in order to couple connectors connected to terminals of the branch lines and main line to mating connectors.
Also, in a process of assembling the wire harness, a continuity test is applied to connectors connected to the terminals of the branch lines and main line. At this time, since connectors for a continuity test are secured to a test table of a continuity test apparatus, the wire harness side connectors are drawn and coupled to the test connectors. Since the test connectors are secured to the test table and are spaced apart from one another at given distances, it is necessary to couple the wire harness side connectors to the juxtaposed test connectors at the predetermined positions.
However, there are some cases where the lengths of the main line and branch line connected to the wire harness side connectors are too short to be drawn out to the test connectors. That is, the distances required for a continuity test between the test connectors and the wire harness side connectors are longer than the distances required for arranging the wire harness in the motor vehicle. These differences between the distances become excess lengths upon arranging the wire harness in the motor vehicle.
As described above, the lengths of the branch lines and main line are set to be slightly longer than those required for arranging them in the motor vehicle. If the branch lines and main line are further elongated for the continuity test, additional lengths upon arrangement of the wire harness will be further elongated. Such additional lengths will cause some problems in which the arranged wire harness may interfere with external members in the motor vehicle and may rattle and generate unusual noises on account of vibrations of the vehicle body.
Heretofore, a structure for absorbing wire additional lengths of a wire harness in a protector has been disclosed in JP 2005-151701 A.
As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the protector includes a protector main body 1 that contains a main line W1 of a wire harness and branch lines W2 of the wire harness, and a lid 2. The protector main body 1 is provided with a main line threading portion 3 and a flat plate-like branch line drawing portion 4 that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the threading direction of the main line W1. The branch line drawing portion 4 is provided on a distal end with direction restraining members 5. Each direction restraining member 5 is formed into a circular plate-like configuration and is provided with branch line threading grooves 5a that extend radially from a center of the member 5. When the branch line W2 is pushed into the branch line threading groove 5a, the direction of branch line W2 is restrained by the direction restraining member 5 at the distal end of the branch line drawing portion 4 and the length of the branch line W2 is adjusted.
However, since the protector disclosed in JP 2005-151701 A is provided on the distal end of the branch line drawing portion 4 with the direction restraining members 5, the branch lines W2 may be loosened between branch line branching positions of the branch line drawing portion 4 and the direction restraining members 5, and the branch lines W2 may interfere with the lid 2 or the branch line drawing portion 4, thereby causing the branch lines W2 to be broken. Also, since the branch line W2 extend in the direction perpendicular to the main line threading direction and the lengths of the branch lines W2 are adjusted by the direction restraining members 5 at the distal end of the branch line drawing portion 4, the whole of the protector are elongated in the perpendicular direction, thereby requiring an additional space for arrangement.
Further, in the case of a continuity test, the protector disclosed in JP 2005-151701 A cannot adjust the lengths of the branch lines extensively. Consequently, the above protector is not suitable for adjusting the additional lengths for the continuity test. If the length at the branch line terminal is set to be the length for the continuity test, the protector cannot contain the additional lengths upon arrangement of the wire harness, and the branch lines may interfere with external interfering members, thereby breaking the branch lines.